ROCK/Review Audren – When Freedom Dies

Something truly intriguing about the newest work by Audren, When Freedom Dies, is the fact that it is captivating. This is not just a protest song – it is much more subtle and much more intimate and much more touching. The song begins with hypnotic and mysterious sound that instantly invites you in giving you a feeling of refuge. You […]

ROCK/Review Sean MacLeod – Cool Charisma

Sean MacLeod has created something quite special with his track “Cool Charisma,” one that is able to be simultaneously refreshingly contemporary and nostalgic. This new record is a clear indication that the former Cisco frontman has not lost his way in writing catchy pop tunes and this new release shows exactly why he has managed to forge a successful solo […]

ROCK/Review RISE – Lost for words

With a song that undergoes a complete change of heartbreak into heartbreak power, RISE have provided something truly refreshing with Lost For Words. This four-member ensemble has the correct formula on how to create melodic rock that strikes hard but is also accessible enough to catch on in an oversaturated rock scene. What catches your attention at the first look […]

COUNTRY/Review Ulrich Jannert – Wander Still

Something very comforting about “Wander Still” – almost as though you have found a compass exactly when you thought you are going in circles. Being the title song on the new album of Ulrich Jannert, it eschews precisely what he does so well, in turning the most existential questions of life into a song that is like the most beloved […]

ROCK/Review Tom Minor – Bring Back the Good Ol’ Boys

Tom Minor has given us something wonderfully subversive with bring back the good ol boys – a song which actually dances and at the same time hits us upside down with its spot-on critique of our collective amnesia in the face of darker patterns in history. Protest music camouflaged as a singalong, and the better it is disguised the better. […]

Pop-Rock/Review Julia Kate – be nice princess

It is one thing to see a person that you had a connection with turn cold and Julia Kate has managed to nail that pain down in the song be nice princess. Here the Los Angeles singer-songwriter has presented something truly refreshing, a pop song, and one that is fun and angry at the same time, a production that knows […]

ROCK/Review ESTRADA Music Project – I don’t need to hide anymore

It is deeply touching to see an artist create out of pure authenticity, such as when one has been carrying a heavy load, but you can see the moment they put the heavy burden down and you can see the relief on their face. The song of I Don’t Need to Hide Anymore by ESTRADA Music Project is a perfect […]

ROCK/Review CAR287 – Opening Song

It is especially difficult to make a good opening statement–it is like being backstage and having your heart beat out of you, and knowing that the moment you step in the light, everything will be different. On Opening Song by CAR287, they have taken that challenge with a lot of grace and the song really deserved to be where it […]

Pop-Rock/Review Naomi Neva – This Is Over

Something truly strong about music created out of the actual suffering is that it has real power, and this is precisely what Naomi Neva conveys in her song This Is Over, with incredible authenticity. It is a breakup song which does not succumb to sentimentality, instead directing female anger and helplessness elsewhere to create something actually cathartic. The performance of […]

ROCK/Review Matt DeAngelis – Livin’ It

Matt DeAngelis has created something truly valuable in the form of the song that turns anxiety during the pandemic era into a spiritual exercise on faith, patience, and contentment despite the underlying uncertainty. It is music that will not answer simply and provide the real spiritual nourishment. The instrumentation is instantly attractive due to its advanced eclecticism. Rapid piano tonings […]

Pop-Rock/Review Exzenya – Ugly When You Love Me

We do have a kind of beauty in music, which is able to transform coarse rage into something pointed, almost graceful – and that is what Exzenya accomplishes with her Ugly When You Love Me. Yes, it is dark electronic pop, but it also happens to be much more piercing, the type of song that looks right into the face […]

ROCK/Review Fiona Amaka – Wingman

It is something really unique about “Wingman,” because it is able to be both a classic and a modern track. Fiona Amaka has given the love song its due, and there is no cliché and trappings of the genre, the song has emotional and sonic appeal. The singing is directly arresting. The delivery of the song has a lot of […]

COUNTRY/Review Courtney Jean – Cloudberry

Music has a silent type of wonder that makes it seem like the music is talking to you in a one-on-one way and yet it somehow relates to something much larger, and that wonder is executed with such an easy grace in Courtney Jean- Cloudberry. The song does not simply start, but slowly comes like a person opening a door […]

ROCK/Review Lode Star – Angel of Darkness (feat. Jonell Elliot)

A cover that comes to a person wrapped in such an enticing context a remastered favorite game, a cult film recreated, etc. there is real danger of disappointment. But Lode Star have created something beyond nostalgia, something that turned a 2003 song into a truly resonant modern rock, that stands on its own magnificently. What first comes to mind is […]

ROCK/Review The Shrubs – Fall Behind

I must say that Fall behind came as a great surprise to me. The Shrubs of Houston have made it feel like you have found a rare jewel in a dusty record store–you know it at once but you are very much surprised. It is something extraordinary that Miguel, Josh, and Sophie have done. Decades old, this song is older […]

ROCK/Review Purbeck Temple – Emptiness In Paradise

Something crude and so painfully stimulating about the “Emptiness In Paradise” by Purbeck Temple that catches your ear already with the first note. This is the weight in the voice of Paul Gill; it is gravelly and soaring, pained but persistent, which makes one believe every single word the man is singing. It is not smooth studio production, it is […]

Rock/Review The Bar Pilots – Box of Bows

The Bar Pilots have something brilliantly nostalgic about their Box of Bows that instantly transports you to the hazy days of the 90s with the alternative rock, but with a sharper and more modern touch. The instrumentals are moody, immediate, which is power pop with actual muscle in it, reminding you of bands like Matchbox 20 or Sponge, but dusted […]

Pop-Rock/Review David DeSantis – The Light You Know

This is the contagiousness of the energy of David DeSantis in the opening of his song The Light You Know that grabs your attention at the very beginning. You can feel that guitar riff right at the beginning–catchy and self-assured–it echoes the vocals in the verse in this witty yet natural manner, which is both intentional and natural at the […]

Pop-Rock/Review Sean MacLeod – Romeo

The manner in which Sean MacLeod writes his songs is so wonderfully intimate, and this song, Romeo, is an excellent example of it. Based on his extensive musical background, those early days with the legendary Dublin-based Cisco, and his experience with the former producer of U2, Paul Barrett, MacLeod has made a song that is reassuring and at the same […]

Dark Pop/Review Tralalas – Burns

This is hypnotic about music that is not in a hurry and Danish dark-pop project TRALALAS knows that. The second single by Morten Alsinger, the songwriter of the upcoming debut album, is a three and a half minute meditation on how flexible emotions are, how loss and gain, friendship and love exist in a state of continuous, dynamic opposition. After […]

ROCK/Review Social Gravy – Fools

Some songs are time capsules. Other ones are warnings that continue to prove themselves true. The Fools by Social Gravy belongs to the latter category, initially written before a presidential election and later republished several years later due to the fact that, as the Los Angeles duo themselves says, the crooks are still around. It is an unattractive, harsh reality […]